1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved process for reducing the level of and retarding the growth of bacteria, on newly slaughtered raw red meat carcasses, poultry carcasses or seafood without causing organoleptic depreciation thereof. The process selected is the combination of steam and a trialkali metal orthophosphate solution.
2. Technology Description
The applicants' assignee has obtained a number of United States patents directed to the use of aqueous solutions of trialkali metal orthophosphate, preferably trisodium orthophosphate, to treat red meat, poultry and seafood. These include the following: 5,069,022; 5,143,739; 5,192,570; 5,262,186; 5,268,185; 5,283,073; and 5,354,568. Each of these patents is characterized by including a treatment step wherein at least a four percent aqueous solution of trialkali metal orthophosphate is used.
The combination of hot water with phosphates as a way to reduce bacterial contamination of poultry has been reported in Thomson et al., "Phosphate and Heat Treatments to Control Salmonella and Reduce Spoilage and Rancidity on Broiler Carcasses", Poultry Science 58:139-143 (1979). The phosphates used in the evaluation are sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate.
The use of hot scald water having a pH of about 9 to reduce contamination of poultry has been reported in Humphrey et al., "The Effect of pH Adjustment on the Microbiology of Chicken Scald-tank Water with Particular Reference to the Death Rate of Salmonellas", Journal of Applied Bacteriology, 51:517-527 (1981). The basic chemicals used to adjust samples of the scalding water to a pH of about 8.8 were sodium and potassium hydroxide, sodium carbonates and tri-sodium phosphate.
Different methods for the pasteurization of poultry meat are discussed in Teotia, "Chemical Pasteurization of Poultry Meat", Ph.D. Thesis, Colorado State University, 1973. Various treatments are described in the thesis including the testing of sodium carbonate, sodium borate or potassium hydroxide solutions at elevated temperatures and testing involving the use of only hot water.
It would be desirable to achieve effective bacterial reduction while potentially reducing the amount of trialkali metal orthophosphate used and by using a treatment means in addition to the trialkali metal orthophosphate treatment. In accordance with this invention it is possible to achieve this result by utilizing the combination of steam with a trialkali metal orthophosphate solution.